A three-year-old Durban boy is believed to have contracted the deadly rabies virus.
He has been admitted to a Durban hospital after showing symptoms of the disease.
The child, who is from Engonyameni near Umlazi, is in a serious condition.
Ten days ago, eight-year-old Sinethemba Hlongwane, from Bergville, died of rabies after being bitten by a rabid dog in April.
He was laid to rest this weekend.
Hlongwane's parents didn't take him for treatment as the dog had been vaccinated a few days before it bit the child.
The KZN Agriculture Department's Jeffrey Zikhali says, in the latest case, the boy's family did take him to a local clinic but he didn't receive proper treatment.
"He started vomiting and became lethargic and didn't have an appetite. He was bitten by a dog in April and taken to a clinic, but there wasn't a proper assessment or a follow-up that was done. He should have been given immunoglobulin [for diagnosis]," he said.
Meanwhile, Zikhali says top canoeist and Underberg farmer Graeme Anderson remains in a critical condition in hospital after contracting the virus.
29-year-old Anderson is believed to have picked up a stray Greyhound in Underberg around two months ago.
The dog died a while later, and Anderson buried it. Although he wasn't bitten by the dog, he likely came into contact with its saliva.
He only started feeling ill a month later and was admitted to the Maritzburg Medi-Clinic.
- East Coast Radio
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